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silentK

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Howdy! New to reefing and saltwater husbandry, long time freshwater enthusiast. I recently set up my first salt tank at home after learning from taking care of larger systems where I work.
When I purchased the rock, I brought it right home and dipped all 4 pieces in fresh RO water for 1 minute to not sacrifice good BB but hopefully kill anything coming along in the rocks. I then shook them around in the bucket to knock any dead hitchhikers off before putting in my tank.

My issue is I just got home from work and turned the light on to find a large number of bristleworms that must have weathered the freshwater dip and are now showing themselves.. a few on the rocks and quite a few in the substrate. What is my best plan of action before actually stocking livestock?
 
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Leave them be? Bristleworms are harmless and great at eating excess food. As log as you don't overfeed their numbers basically self regulate.
 
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www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
silentK said:
When I purchased the rock, I brought it right home and dipped all 4 pieces in fresh RO water for 1 minute to not sacrifice good BB but hopefully kill anything coming along in the rocks. I then shook them around in the bucket to knock any dead hitchhikers off before putting in my tank.
Click to expand...
Tbh, this wont do much. Might have knocked a few inverts off the rock while stunned but will do nothing for the eggs or anything that was deeper in a crevice.

Dipping works really well on frags as frag plugs are smooth and you can use a toothbrush to scrub the rock around the actually coral. Most inverts on the corals flesh can be knocked off into the water for disposal
 
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www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
silentK said:
Howdy! New to reefing and saltwater husbandry, long time freshwater enthusiast. I recently set up my first salt tank at home after learning from taking care of larger systems where I work.
When I purchased the rock, I brought it right home and dipped all 4 pieces in fresh RO water for 1 minute to not sacrifice good BB but hopefully kill anything coming along in the rocks. I then shook them around in the bucket to knock any dead hitchhikers off before putting in my tank.

My issue is I just got home from work and turned the light on to find a large number of bristleworms that must have weathered the freshwater dip and are now showing themselves.. a few on the rocks and quite a few in the substrate. What is my best plan of action before actually stocking livestock?
Click to expand...
Generally speaking, bristleworms - while not the most attractive creatures for a tank - are actually harmless/beneficial (they’re usually good CUC members). So, they’re not really a concern unless you really hate the way they look. If they’re more specifically fireworms or bobbits or something, then that’s a different matter, but regular bristleworms are nothing to worry about.

To my understanding, a one minute freshwater dip is unlikely to kill (or even really stress) most hitchhikers. In fact, even chemical dips don’t seem to keep every hitchhiker out. So, if you’re looking to keep your tank totally hitchhiker (or at least “pest” hitchiker) free, then you’ll need to quarantine everything before putting it into your tank (literally everything unless it’s totally dead, dry rock/sand - basically, if it’s wet, there’s a chance of unwanted hitchhikers, including parasites). To avoid diseases (which if you look through the disease forum here on R2R, you’ll see wipeout tanks regularly), I’d QT for a minimum of 45 days at 81F. This not only prevents disease, but it lets you have ample time to observe everything you’re putting into your tank for hitchhikers (like bristleworms, bubble algae, Aiptasia, disease, vermetid snails, etc.) before introducing those hitchhikers unknowingly into your display tank.

If you want to get the worms out of your tank entirely, you’d probably need to get rid of the sand and rocks and start over or starve your tank for a few months to kill them all.

Edit: forgot to add, welcome to Reef2Reef!
 
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Also, please refrain from using the emergency tag if you don't need it. Emergency tags should be used for things that demand immediate action like if your tank has sprung a leak, a bunch of corals are dying in the span of a day, or fish are currently showing signs of infection and/or fish are dying
 
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silentK said:
Howdy! New to reefing and saltwater husbandry, long time freshwater enthusiast. I recently set up my first salt tank at home after learning from taking care of larger systems where I work.
When I purchased the rock, I brought it right home and dipped all 4 pieces in fresh RO water for 1 minute to not sacrifice good BB but hopefully kill anything coming along in the rocks. I then shook them around in the bucket to knock any dead hitchhikers off before putting in my tank.

My issue is I just got home from work and turned the light on to find a large number of bristleworms that must have weathered the freshwater dip and are now showing themselves.. a few on the rocks and quite a few in the substrate. What is my best plan of action before actually stocking livestock?
Click to expand...
Get some wrasses to eat them lol
 
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Tidal Gardens
Ispeakfortheseas is right though, if you really dont want bristleworms or other pests in the tank you need to start with everything being sterile. This would mean draining the tank now, tossing out the sand and rock, and then starting fresh with dry rocks and a bottle of bacteria (like dr tims or fritzyme).

Most people will just live with bristleworms as they arent too bad or the occasional aiptasia that can be killed with aiptasia x
 
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silentK said:
Howdy! New to reefing and saltwater husbandry, long time freshwater enthusiast. I recently set up my first salt tank at home after learning from taking care of larger systems where I work.
When I purchased the rock, I brought it right home and dipped all 4 pieces in fresh RO water for 1 minute to not sacrifice good BB but hopefully kill anything coming along in the rocks. I then shook them around in the bucket to knock any dead hitchhikers off before putting in my tank.

My issue is I just got home from work and turned the light on to find a large number of bristleworms that must have weathered the freshwater dip and are now showing themselves.. a few on the rocks and quite a few in the substrate. What is my best plan of action before actually stocking livestock?
Click to expand...
While I dont welcome bristleworms in my tanks, Many regard them as cleaner crew and desire them as they eat uneaten food and detritus and are safe " until you touch them"
 
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vetteguy53081 said:
While I dont welcome bristleworms in my tanks, Many regard them as cleaner crew and desire them as they eat uneaten food and detritus and are safe " until you touch them"
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What do you mean lol? By touch them is it a bad idea
 
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Orphek OR3 reef aquarium LED bar
dedragon said:
Tbh, this wont do much. Might have knocked a few inverts off the rock while stunned but will do nothing for the eggs or anything that was deeper in a crevice.

Dipping works really well on frags as frag plugs are smooth and you can use a toothbrush to scrub the rock around the actually coral. Most inverts on the corals flesh can be knocked off into the water for disposal
Click to expand...
+1
 
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Stephen8169301 said:
What do you mean lol?
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The bristles on them if you touch will attach to your skin and send you some pain, sort of like getting shot with needles from a porcupine - You will definitely be talking to yourself
 
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Top Shelf Aquatics
dedragon said:
Ispeakfortheseas is right though, if you really dont want bristleworms or other pests in the tank you need to start with everything being sterile. This would mean draining the tank now, tossing out the sand and rock, and then starting fresh with dry rocks and a bottle of bacteria (like dr tims or fritzyme).

Most people will just live with bristleworms as they arent too bad or the occasional aiptasia that can be killed with aiptasia x
Click to expand...


I overdosed expired prazi into my invert QT to kill bristleworms before any (desireable) inverts went it. It worked lol
 
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Stephen8169301 said:
Well this is good to know thanks haha
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If undesired, arrow crabs will eat them like candy

Arrow crab:

1675912482508.png
 
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Top Shelf Aquatics
vetteguy53081 said:
If undesired, arrow crabs will eat them like candy

Arrow crab:
Click to expand...
I love these guys, even in the wild they will crawl on your hand if you put it out while diving. Havent tried them in a reef tank because of people reporting that they can kill small fish but I might put one into a frag tank im building
 
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